The Gulf of Mexico Fishery Management Council approved a devastating plan to permit industrial ocean fish farms in U.S. waters. Advertised as a blueprint for ocean waters nationwide, it's now headed to the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration.

Saturday May 9, 2009, 3:13 pm
Every year the "Dead Zone" gets bigger. How are they going to avoid adding to that? Fish farms are a disaster here in B.C. NOAA is headed by a biologist and I do hope she says "no".

Saturday May 9, 2009, 6:34 pm
Thanks Tom for the opportunity to sign this petition. .... " ...when the last river has been poisoned and the last fish been caught will we realise we cannot eat money ..."

Sunday May 10, 2009, 1:37 am
Noted & signed, Tom Up here in British Columbia our wild salmon is under siege by the sea lice concentration engendered by the industrial open net fish farms. I can only pray that the wild salmon will survive, the fish farm will vanish and someone has the sense to say no to industrial fish farming in the Gulf of Mexico!

Sunday May 10, 2009, 9:00 am
fish farms in british columbia, as per Elainna's post, fight the sea lice infestations with pesticides such as Slice. You can also choose the colour of fish from fish farms because they dye the flesh to make it lovely shades of pink or red. these farms are placed directly on the wild salmon runs from the rivers to the sea, where the sea lice attach themselves to the wild baby salmon and suck the life from them. if fish farms are to be tolerated at all, they must be on the land so as not to further contaminate our oceans. In BC fish farms use net guards that deter predators. Some farmers coat the nets in a highly toxic solution to prevent naturally occurring marine organisms from growing on them. This toxic solution contaminates our waters.

Salmon farmers are granted licenses to kill predators such as Sea lions and Seals to stop them from eating their fish. In the spring of 2001 a mass grave containing at least 15 Sea lions killed by a farm operator was discovered in Clayoquot Sound. Since then, more pits of dead Sea lions have been found in the same area. BC salmon farmers reported having killed at least 5,000 Seals and Sea lions in the last decade. The real figure could be much higher as some kills, according to fish farm employees, go unreported.
: Farmed salmon are raised in floating netcages, the marine equivalent of factory farms. There are over 85 open netcages currently operating in British Columbia (BC) waters and another 35 farms that are dormant and could be started up at any time. This number does not include the many new farms that the industry and provincial governments hope to see along their coastline over the next few years. At the current level alone, collectively these Canadian fish farms discharge waste into the ocean, which is roughly equivalent, in terms of pollution, to the raw sewage from a city with 500,000 inhabitants. There are additional open netcage fish farms located in countries all along the coast of South America. The intense accumulation of wastes from these operations can spoil the local marine environment and spread disease.

In addition to natural wastes, farmed salmon are given antibiotics (more than any other livestock by weight) as well as other drugs that may compromise human health and harm near-shore ecosystems.
A study released in the journal Environmental Science & Technology found much higher levels of some chemical flame retardants in farmed salmon compared to most wild salmon. The study concluded that, in spite of the heart healthy benefits of omega-3 fatty acids in all salmon, frequent consumption of farmed salmon is more likely than wild to boost levels of chemicals that researchers have found to be increasing rapidly in people's bodies.

Monday May 11, 2009, 5:55 am
signed and noted we have one fish agri. farm off the coast near where I live, it is for salmon. It is a major discussion in this part if it is harmful or not to the surrounding waters. I must check more into this to find out more info on this subject.